GABbers: The message below is from another listserve called "Frontiers of ID" and contains some interesting estimates for shorebird populations, including most of those species which pass through Georgia. Some of the estimates have a Canadian slant, since that is where the numbers originated. Giff Beaton Marietta GA

> >The Canadian Wildlife Service has just released its "Estimates of shorebird >populations in North America" (Occasional Paper Number 104) authored by >R.I.G. (Guy) Morrison (2001) and five other Canadian and American >ornithologists. Remember that these numbers are best estimates. NA = North >America. > >1. Black-bellied Plover: Global 498,000 with 200,000 in NA. > >2. American Golden-Plover: 150,000+ > >3. Pacific Golden-Plover: Global population 125,000 with 16,000 in NA. > >4. Snowy Plover: Global 586,000 with 16,000 in NA. > >5. Wilson's Plover: 6000+ > >6. Common Ringed Plover: Global 442,500 with less than 10,000? in NA. > >7. Semipalmated Plover: 150,000 > >8. Piping Plover: 5913 with 2110 in Canada. > >9. Killdeer: 1,000,000+ with Canadian population estimate of 366,000. Size >of Neotropical population is unknown. > >10. Mountain Plover: 9000 with 10 in Canada. > >11. American Oystercatcher: Global 58,850 with 8850 in NA and 4 in Canada. > >12. Black Oystercatcher: 8900 > >13. Black-necked Stilt: Global 850,000+ with 150,000 in NA and 400 in Canada. > >14. American Avocet: 450,000 with 63,000 in Canada. > >15. Greater Yellowlegs: 100,000 > >16. Lesser Yellowlegs: 500,000 > >17. Solitary Sandpiper: 25,000 > >18. Willet: 250,000 with 25,000 in Canada. Eastern nominate subspecies >(semipalmatus) estimated at 90,000 and western interior subspecies >(inornatus) at 160,000. > >19. Wandering Tattler: 10,000 with 5,000 in Canada. > >20. Spotted Sandpiper: 150,000 > >21. Upland Sandpiper: 350,000 with 10,000 in Canada. > >22. Eskimo Curlew: Less than 50 if the species still survives. "Note: In my >opinion, the Eskimo Curlew has been extinct for many years. Last specimen >taken in Canada on 29 August 1932 in Labrador. Last photographed (one) in >March and April 1962 near Galveston, Texas. Last specimen shot on 4 >September 1963 in Barbados, West Indes. No 100% reliable sightings since >the 1960s. Recent reports probably are juvenile Whimbrels with short bills >or vagrant Little Curlews." > >23. Whimbrel: Global 797,000+ with 57,000 in NA. > >24. Bristle-thighed Curlew: 10,000. This species breeds in Alaska and >winters in Oceania. > >25. Long-billed Curlew: 20,000. The Canadian breeding population is >probably several thousand birds. > >26. Hudsonian Godwit: 50,000 with about 10,000 migrating through James Bay. > >27. Bar-tailed Godwit: Golbal 1,345,000 with 100,000 in NA. > >28. Marbled Godwit: 171,500. The Canadian breeding population is about >103,000 with the small James Bay population estimated at 1000 to 2000 birds. > >29. Ruddy Turnstone: Global 449,000 with 235,000 in NA. > >30. Black Turnstone: 80,000 > >31. Surfbird: 70,000 > >32. Red Knot: Global 1,29,000 with 400,000 in NA. > >33. Sanderling: Global 643,000 with 300,000 in NA. > >34. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 3,500,000 > >35. Western Sandpiper: 3,500,000 > >36. Least Sandpiper: 600,000 > >37. White-rumped Sandpiper: 400,000 > >38. Baird's Sandpiper: 300,000 > >39. Pectoral Sandpiper: 400,000 > >40. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper: Global 166,000 with about 1000 using the NA >Pacific coast south of Alaska. > >41. Purple Sandpiper: Global 65,000 with 15,000 in Canada. > >42. Rock Sandpiper: Global 200,000 with 150,000 in NA including 1000+ >wintering in British Columbia. > >43. Dunlin: Global 3,934,000 with 1,525,000 in NA. > >44. Stilt Sandpiper: 200,000 > >45. Buff-breasted Sandpiper: 15,000 > >46. Short-billed Dowitcher: 320,000. Three well-marked subspecies with >estimates of 110,000 for eastern nominate griseus, interior hendersoni >about 60,000, and western caurinus about 150,000. > >47. Long-billed Dowitcher: 500,000 > >48. Common Snipe: Global 26,750,000 with 2,000,000 in NA. > >49. American Woodcock: 5,000,000 with 1,000,000 in Canada. > >50. Wilson's Phalarope: 1,500,000 with 680,000 in Canada. > >51. Red-necked Phalarope: Global 4,000,000 with 2,500,000 in NA. > >52. Red Phalarope: 1,000,000 > >Four Additional Species: > >1. Gray-tailed Tattler: Confirmed breeding record for Alaska. > >2. Red-necked Stint: A few dozen breed in Alaska. > >3. Curlew Sandpiper: A few dozen breed in Alaska. > >4. Ruff: A few dozen breed in Alaska. > >This 64 page report (Occasional Paper Number 104) is available from: >Publications >Canadian Wildlife Service >Environment Canada >Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3 >(819) 997-1095 >(819) 997-2756 (fax) >cws-scf@ec.gc.ca >http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca >